Connection Between Epigenome, Selective Mutability, Evolution, and Human Disease
Li, Harris et al., PLoS Genetics
Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine and elsewhere propose a "connection between the epigenome, selective mutability, evolution, and human disease" based on the findings of their study on associations of structural mutability with germline DNA methylation and with non-allelic homologous recombination mediated by low-copy repeats. "Combined evidence from four human sperm methylome maps, human genome evolution, structural polymorphisms in the human population, and previous genomic and disease studies consistently points to a strong association of germline hypomethylation and genomic instability," the Baylor-led team writes.
For Sharing, For Credit
During a recent Science Online New York City discussion hosted by Nature.com and Ars Technica, panelist Mark Hahnel said that of the nearly 1,000 figures he generated during his PhD studies, only 20 were published in traditional outlets and made available to others. Because of his desire to both share his results and get credit for them, Hahnel developed FigShare, an open-source repository for raw data, figures, citations, and links to additional research, among other things — all of which is published under a Creative Commons license. Hahnel said that, essentially, FigShare operates as a "Dropbox for scientists."
As Science Online attendee @learnosaurus says, FigShare users can point out false or otherwise erroneous data for withdrawal. Hahnel said users are free to comment on any upload, @samuelcrane notes. "FigShare sounds promising: 'stupidly simple, filtering, discoverability, metrics,' Crane says, quoting Hahnel's talk.